Daman is divided by the Daman Ganga River into two parts — Nani-daman (nani meaning "small") and Moti-daman (moti meaning "big"). Despite its name, Nani-daman is the larger of the two parts, while the old city is mainly in Moti-Daman. The downtown area holds most of the important entities like the major hospitals, supermarkets and major residential areas.

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The Portuguese Diogo de Melo arrived at the spot by chance in 1523, when heading towards Ormuz. He was caught in a violent storm and had his boat blown towards the coast of Daman.[2] Soon after, it was settled as a Portuguese colony which lasted for over 400 years. A larger fort was built in Motidaman in the 16th century to guard against the Mughals who ruled the area until the Portuguese arrived. It stands today, most of it preserved in its original form. Today the majority of the municipal government offices are inside the fort.

Daman has a tropical savanna climate (KöppenAw) with two distinct seasons: a hot and dry season from mid-October to May and a hot, very humid and extremely wet monsoon season from June to mid-October. Almost no rain falls during the dry season. With milder mornings and lower humidity especially up to the middle of March, this is by far the most comfortable time of the year.

The monsoon season, though relatively short, is extremely wet – although not quite wet enough to qualify as a tropical monsoon climate – with flooding occurring annually. Along with the very high humidity and heavy rain every afternoon, travel is difficult and uncomfortable.

Jain Temple: This 18th century Jain temple is in the northern region of Nani Daman Fort and is dedicated to Mahavir Swami. It is built with white marble and has beautiful carvings. The walls have very elegant glass cover with 18th century murals that represent the life of Mahavir Swami.[8]

Indian Coast Guard Air Station, Daman is the premier air station of the Coast Guard with all the airfield facilities, air traffic control and other allied air traffic services. It is equipped with state-of-the-art airport surveillance radar (ASR), precision approach path indicator (PAPI), Doppler very high frequency omnidirectional radio range (DVOR) – distance measuring equipment (DME) and nondirectional beacon (NDB), as navigational aids. This air station provides ATC and parking facilities to defence as well as civil aircraft.[9]